Whomever Falls
by Maeve-Juniper
Summary: Terebellum Crouch is all the things that none of us should aspire to be. Selfish, immature, lacking in talent and ambition without a care for anyone else in the world. But there's still hope for her yet at Hogwarts in her fourth year, as she comes to realize who her friends are, and who they should be. Pre-Marauder's, will probably have multiple ships, OC's and semi-OC's.
1. Chapter 1

_Terebellum: 'gives a fortune, but with regret and disgrace, cunning, a mercenary nature and repulsiveness.'_

Fluffing her dark, wavy hair while peering at herself in the mirror, Terebellum Crouch agreed with her reflection whole-heartedly - she had to be the best damn looking witch in Hogwarts, of any house or year. She had all the angular, dramatic features that both enticed and charmed as well as added a regal look to herself that no one else could touch. What she lacked in most, being only fourteen, were womanly hips and full breasts as they hadn't quite developed - _yet_. Thankfully the Slytherin uniform and cloak did an excellent job of masking those more lanky aspects of herself. It helped that she got her mother's looks, though Terebellum would be loath to admit if they had anything else in common.

Charis Black, although beautiful by anyone's standards and certainly her own, was often overbearing and Terebullum found Hogwarts to be a haven, where she did not constantly have to hear about all the plans for when she was older; who she would marry, where they would live, and all of those details that Terebellum didn't feel was necessary to bother with. After all she had the Crouch inheritance cut that could sustain her for a lifetime and she was only in her fourth year at Hogwarts, for Godric's sake, there was no need to interrogate her every second of the day!

It didn't really matter much to the rest of her classmates that she was still considerably young, first years knew it was only a three year difference and seventh years decided there was a fuzzy line between fourth and fifth that she -with her vexing aura that could almost rival a Veela's- crossed into or, at least, was worthy to fancy. Not that Terebellum could say the same in such confidence, it was rather that she realized her charms and used them to her advantage, wouldn't any person in her position do the same?

After all, her flirtatious and playful nature wasn't to be taken seriously, she had no bad intentions -or at least none that could be warranted as _evil_- she only wanted to make the best she could of her time at Hogwarts before anyone could force her into being a dutiful, pureblood society-girl housewife.

Though most of the time she did not think she got it nearly as bad as the other Black's did, whenever she saw her cousins, aunts and uncles they would constantly gossip with those of whom they were fond of. Whenever someone was shunned it was as if that person didn't exist anymore, as if they didn't deserve the time of day. No matter how nagging or prim her mother was, she did not speak poorly of anyone, and for this she was often teased as being considered the most 'merciful'. Who knew just being quiet during family events could earn one that title.

"Your hair looks wonderful 'Bellum, I don't see why you always insist on playing with it," Druella Rosier commented. An impish sort of girl with a long, pointed nose and blonde hair cut to her ears, Druella had been the only girl Terebellum found she could get along with in Slytherin. The rest normally wanted to hear about her handsome, older second-cousin in his last year, Cygnus Black. Even if she _had_ possessed a better relationship with him than the basic barely-existent one, the last thing she would want to hear is how amazing his dark eyes are or that they would just love to 'run their fingers through his glossy hair, just once.' They had many of the same features, why on earth would she want to hear any of them drone on about it?!

"Well you wouldn't be lying" Terebellum joked, giving Druella a smirk through the mirror. "You don't suppose those frittering girls will be back anytime soon, do you? Honestly they could put me in St. Mungo's by the end of this year alone, never mind the next three,"

Sighing, Druella rolled over on her bed. "Considering you made me pretend an injury in Potions with Slughorn and volunteered to assist me to the infirmary thirty minutes ago, I assume that we still have until classes end and the ten minutes it will take for them to get here," Druella was still a bit bitter about the last-minute scheme, she hadn't quite finished the potion she was working on for the day.

"Oh quit with the sarcasm, Slughorn wouldn't bat an eye if he found you guilty of breaking_ the_ _Statute of Secrecy_. While being the shining example of a good witch that you are, I know you want to help benefit other purebloods, such as myself, that don't quite have the same extent of special favourtism," Terebellum said in persuasion, using the 'pureblood' card that only worked on people who actually gave a crap. Seeing as Terebellum was only really in the interest of herself, unfortunately for her that sphere happened to be about the size of an Easter egg.

With Druella not facing the mirror anymore, Terebellum couldn't make out any sort of reaction. "That's true..."

Terebellum smiled at herself in the mirror again, really she couldn't help but be pleased. "We might have missed out on assigned work, maybe we should have a study session tomorrow to make up for it," Terebellum suggested, though it was more for her own benefit than for Druella's, who normally didn't need the extra brainpower.

"Why not? We do have a Potions quiz sometime this week anyway,"

"We do?"

"Oh! Um... the Professor said so, I mean he accidentally let it slip at the 'Slughorn Club' evening refreshments... you know, while in casual conversation? Told us not to say anything when he realized, though I guess I just told you. You won't say anything, will you?" Druella was now completely facing her, large brown eyes that were normally heavy-lidded now wide in pleading.

Terebellum had to scoff. For a girl so dedicated to their friendship, she was often prone to reaching for the most drastic conclusions quickly, normally these imply that Terebellum would jump at the chance to ruin her in whatever way possible. Terebellum didn't let herself think about why that would possibly cross the blonde's mind. "No, Drew, why on earth would I do such a thing? Besides I would never be able to build up anywhere near as good of an impression as you have on Slughorn, it would take actually trying to convince him that I think he's a fantastic teacher."

"Isn't he, though? He's rather fair, and he knows which students are the best ones... well, besides a few of the Mudblood's he lets into the Club, in fact you would probably be in if they were properly excluded. Probably only does that so no one can claim he doesn't support diversity," Druella says thoughtfully, her acceptance of some of Slughorn's less pure tactics clear.

Terebellum turned from the mirror, mounted onto the wall just beside her own bed, frowning slightly. That was exactly the problem she had with Slughorn. Well, not the Mudblood part as she could really care less, but that he very publicly invites particular students that he finds to be a more intellectual tier beyond the rest screams favouritsm, allowing them much more lead-way in Potions class that others, who might not immediately exceed at the subject, need. Yet his usual attitude is to cast those less talented aside, not outright ignoring them exactly, but all the same it wasn't a nice feeling to have one's genius older brother and Potions-talented best friend treated as if they were somehow better.

What normally made her feel better about this was that Ascella, her younger sister, was never invited either.

Deciding that it was high time to retreat from the dormitory before any of the other fourth year Slytherin girls could arrive Druella and Terebellum got comfortable in the Slytherin common room, a place that always had moisture in the air as it was right by the lake and rather Gothic in appearance, from the black steel chandeliers to the foreboding way the green and silver cloth hung dramatically. When Terebellum first saw it she had been both thoroughly disappointed yet not at all surprised, as it looked like a miniature of any pureblood household. Slytherins were meant to feel right at home.

Not at all the feeling Terebullum wished to have.

There were a few other Slytherins milling about the place, all in the upper years with free time periods in their schedule. If only Terebellum's father didn't pressure her and her siblings, Barty and Ascella, into piling in as many courses as they could possible for academic success. He had of course been sorted into Ravenclaw as Caspar Crouch was not a direct descendant of the Black Family, and probably would have encouraged them to be sorted into it if their mother weren't so adamant. At least Bartemius, being the most intelligent and ambitious of the three Crouch siblings, found the overflow of school work enjoyable.

Normally Terebellum got Druella and a few other more 'loyal' Slytherin's to pitch in, under the guise that they were just helping her and not literally doing everything in their capability. Fortunately most people at Hogwarts didn't actually study, so she could normally just barely pass in her classes without anyone the wiser. Except for Bartemius and Ascella, the former rather characteristically indifferent to her methods as long as she didn't outright cheat and the latter chastising her for not living up to her full, 'pureblood potential'. She always was the most crony-like of the Crouch children and it never wore off even in Ascella's three years at Hogwarts surrounded by halfbloods and Mudbloods. Often Terebellum would cynically muse that at least some of their mother's conditioning had worked.

Really she was surprised that the doctrine hadn't rubbed off on her as much. It was probably that most people in Slytherin were already full of it, anymore and the amount of self-importance in one place would make the world implode. Not that Terebellum wasn't self-important already, she just didn't go strutting about because of who her great-great-whomever had been, though she thought her heritage was cool it didn't seem like something to hold over anyone else's head. Well, except for the other purebloods who wanted even closer connections to the 'Most Ancient and Noble House of Black' if only to preserve the precious pure bloodlines.

Their conversation drew on into the common room and Terebellum was excited to see, fifteen minutes after the last class of the day had finished, the three other fourth year Slytherin girls creeping into the common room and bee lining for their dormitory. They had successfully avoided a run in with the Slimy Snake girls, as they had nicknamed the trio a year prior, Slytherin loyalty had never been put into question. Terebellum and Druella stuck together and the rest could fend for themselves. Okay maybe not 'the rest', just the fourth year girls, all the other Slytherins Terebellum didn't have much of a problem with. Even though she never really understood the 'self-importance' thing it didn't really bother her.

"Thank the celestial stars," Terebellum sighed gratefully. "Now hopefully they'll be clever enough not to rat on us for bunking class,"

"They won't," Druella claimed. "No one wants trouble from you, 'Bellum, too afraid that Barty'll give them hell for it,"

Terebellum raised a brow. "Not a chance, he's never been the particularly protective or, you know,_ loving_ sort. Keeps to his studies so much he probably wouldn't even hear about it,"

"Still, it would be taking a risk," Druella sung shrilly.

"Well, anyway, what do you suppose will be on that quiz you mentioned earlier for Potions?"

During supper in the Great Hall Terbellum got the usual stolen glances from a number of boys from most tables except of course Gryffindor, where they took rivalries to the extreme and even fraternizing with the enemy could cause your morals to be questioned or, at the very worst level, social suicide. But that didn't mean she couldn't take a few extra looks at the boys in Gryffindor, and the glares she got from a couple of the more protective older girls amused her more than the slight blushes she got when a boy caught her. Terebellum would throw her head back and laugh with glee, none of the Slytherins were ever really bothered as most of them thought it was funny getting to the other houses as well. Strangely, it never did much to their popularity, whether because Slytherin didn't really have one or everybody knew they did what they wanted. Either way it was quite a toss up.

There was a tug just beside her and Terebellum whipped around, annoyed that her antics had been interrupted. "What?"

"'Bellum, Professor Slughorn is _looking over_ _here..._" Druella said quietly, her voice wary.

Terebellum didn't bother looking, as she would rather not be forced into eye contact with the Potions teacher. "So? He's the head of this house, not really a huge deal that he would watch over us more closely,"

"No, 'Bellum, I mean he's looking right at _us._ Me and you,"

"Really? Shit. Okay well don't _look back_ Drew that'll just make things worse. Just continue eating and let him be creepy, hopefully he'll just leave us alone," Terebllum constructed, yet knowing that the professor was probably still watching, her chews became more deliberate and she felt incredibly awkward. There had been no more flirty gestures made at the other houses. Damn it why did Slughorn insist on ruining her life?

Luckily it seemed that he didn't actually intend to bother either of them as supper continued on, conversations were started, jokes were made at others expense, gossip was exchanged... if there was one thing Slytherins were good at, it was sharing information. Or making up information, they were almost the same really. Except one happened to be less true, but it was almost always more entertaining so that had to count for something in balancing the two.

Finishing up her stew and salad Terebellum crossed her cutlery atop her plate and bunched up her napkin, putting it on the upper most layer. Then she saw something to the left just entering her line of vision and panicked just a bit. What she had been expecting was bad, but the person she was met with as her dark eyes trailed upwards was even worse.

"Hello, Terebellum," Ascella greeted. The younger Crouch sister didn't take after their mother at all, with her mousy brown hair and pale brown eyes, a nose that was round and slightly plump with soft cheeks that became massive whenever she smiled, which wasn't very often.

Terebellum wasn't too keen on starting a friendly evening chat with her sister any time soon. The girl always brought down the vibe and she hated that. "Good night, Ascella," She said in return, feeling a bit clever as it _was_ and her words implied that she wanted Ascella to go away. Weren't there a bunch of third year Slytherins frittering about that she could take to? Because Terebellum would gladly hand over some fourth years if that wasn't the case.

"I've heard that Druella had a bit of an accident this afternoon?" She asks inquisitively, eyeing a poor, uncomfortable Druella just sitting there on the bench waiting for things to blow over between the Crouch sisters.

"Yes, I took her to the infirmary,"

"Well I also heard that you, Terebellum, didn't come back to class at all when it should have taken you only fifteen minutes tops to get there and back, with the hallways not crowded. Not to mention you took your books with you _there_,"

Terebellum sighed, exasperated, not at all in the mood to deal with an uptight underclassmen even if it was her younger sister. "It is none of your concern what I do, Ascella, if you really want me to receive heck for it I'm certain sending a letter to mum would do just as fine,"

"No, it wouldn't-"

"Excuse me, ladies?" A third voice, distinctly male and definitely not Druella, pushed itself into the quarreling. Both girls turned to come face-to-face with Professor Slughorn, smiling that ridiculous smile of his and Terebellum had to hold back a groan at the crap luck she was having today. Couldn't everyone just let her miss a class or two in peace? It wasn't like she was gone for the entire lesson, either!

"Yes, Mr. Slughorn?" Ascella asked innocently. Terebellum nearly glowered at her. Who does Ascella even think she is, as if she ever liked him? Well she generally respected most teachers except Headmaster Dippet and Professor Dumbledore, she had made many comments about how they're a couple of 'old quacks'. Still, it was unnerving.

"I would like to have a private chat with the elder Miss Crouch, if you mind, about today's Potions class?"

"Certainly, Mr. Slughorn," Grinning, Ascella did a stupid little curtsy and dashed off to, God willing, the Forbidden Forest. Well, at least that's where Terebellum preferred she'd go at the moment.

"You can go now too, Miss Rosier," He said, smiling jovially at the blonde. Druella very thankfully got up from her seat and nodded towards the Professor, then left in a rush. The Great Hall was emptying, there weren't many people left but the stragglers and some of the Professors who were chatting a bit with each other at the staff table.

"Now Miss Crouch I do assume you know about the rules and, while I try to be a bit lax on my students knowing how harsh some of the Professors can be on them, and while leaving the lesson temporarily to help one's friend is perfectly alright, I do not appreciate when students choose not to come back," He allowed for a pause.

Terebellum expected that he would give her some sort of detention, knowing Slughorn probably something easy like lines.

"Now seeing as for the most part you are rather respectable during my class in comparison to what I've heard from other Professor's I won't be necessarily punishing you, as I'm afraid only doing so will make you draw back from my class as well. Instead, you will notice that a few changes will be set in place for tomorrow so that all of my students, yourself, Miss Rosier and all the rest, will benefit. Is that something you would be in favour of, Miss Crouch?"

The proposition sounded like something she wouldn't like but, when she already had two other detentions to attend to this week -one for being fifteen minutes late to Herbology class and the other for being caught past proper hours- who was she to pass up the opportunity for the replacement of a third? As usual she would live with the consequences when she got there. For now, going along with whatever Slughorn had in mind would be astronomically better than another day of lines or perhaps cleaning up the beakers and tubes in the dingy Potions room.

"I would...?" Terebellum somewhat agreed, still a bit hesitant despite having already internally decided.

"Excellent! That's all I really wanted to discuss with you, Miss Crouch, you may be on your way," He smiled pleasantly, which felt odd to Terebellum as he usually gave her a look of total apathy.

Turning to leave, Terebellum had no idea that she had just initiated the change that would grip her for so many years to come. Change that would make her perceive the world differently and have others look at _her_ in a new perception.

The next day, arriving in Potions with Druella in tow, Terebellum got the first look at what, exactly, Slughorn had been talking about the previous night. Rather than having the Hufflepuffs seated to one side of the room and the Slytherins on the other, all the students were rallied at the front in a formal line. Slughorn's back was facing them as he ushered them all closer together, not seemingly aware of the Hufflepuffs apprehension at this or the Slytherins bunched up faces in disapproval. Terebellum's steps slowed, and she almost felt like pushing Druella into the corner of a table or something so she could take her to the infirmary wing again no matter how infuriated this would make Slughorn. Though she had trouble picturing the Professor behaving severe or domineering towards anyone, even his own students.

Luckily she had caught some of the words he'd been giving her classmates. "-worry, the new arrangement will only last for a week, nothing more. Think of it as a treat, even!" He encouraged, but it was too obvious that not a single one of them would.

"What's going on here?" Druella asked, curious, from Terebellum's side.

As if Slughorn had a special ear separately for all the students he liked best, he swivelled around as soon as Druella spoke and smiled even wider. Coming closer to them, Terebellum felt a deep carnal instinct to flee from the area. To her dorm, perhaps, where she could take a well-deserved nap instead. Already she'd had enough of today. Whether it was by shock or subconsciously knowing that this would get her into _real_ trouble with Slughorn Terebellum stayed rooted to her spot.

"Hello, Miss Rosier!" He greeted, not at all welcoming towards Terebellum. "Come, come, I'll be beginning class in just a moment!" He assured, directing the girls towards the formed line at the front.

"Now everyone it has come to my attention that many of you take the privilege of sitting with your dear mates for granted! This has lent way to some less than ideal choices made by some of you, so in order to correct this behaviour I have decided to make the next week -a full five days to exclude the weekend- one in which you will sit with someone from a different house. Hopefully, this change will help each of you put greater focus into your studies and perhaps allow yourself to not be so easily won over by the decision of a friend," He explained, and towards the end had looked _directly towards Druella._

Well, at least she could see now who he was really trying to help. So much for the possibility that Slughorn would do this specifically and exclusively for an underachiever.

With a bit of time and Slughorn's stupid, incessant talking as white noise for the background Terebellum found that it wasn't necessarily as bad as it had first appeared. Yes the most favoured and successful student in their class was no longer her partner, but it wasn't as if all the Hufflepuffs were absolutely horrid at the subject. There happened to be a few that were at least on par with the Slytherins and getting stuck with one of them could be even better than having Druella. At least _they_ don't constantly moan on and on. No, the little Puffers were generally good at letting other people get what they want, and Terebellum could most certainly deal with that.

Two by two Slughorn pulled students together and pointed at any given station for them, moving down the line until Terebellum was the next Slytherin to be reassigned. She half expected that Slughorn would deliberately ignore her and pass on to the next one but of course he wasn't that rude. He lightly placed a hand on her shoulder and one on a random Hufflepuff boy and pushed them off into a direction, not even giving them any indication of which station he wanted them to head to. Without much care Terebellum picked one out on the third row towards the middle as to be inconspicuous during lessons. Dumping her books on top of the tables surface she claimed the spot for herself and the Hufflepuff as someone had to do it.

"Are you just going to stand there, Puff?" Terebellum asked, sitting down on a stool.

The boy shuffled over, and momentarily Terebellum wondered if he was handsome or not. Unfortunately his face had been obscured as he was looking down towards the floor, and when he sat he adjusted his head away from her a bit with one hand cupping his face.

"What's with you? Slytherins don't bite, promise," she said, trying to make the most of their new arrangements.

The boy didn't seem to be having it, as he said nothing.

Terebellum raised a brow. "Aren't you Hufflepuff's supposed to be all nice and fuzzy? I swear that was in a handbook I read once,"

Then he turned to her, with hazel eyes and olive skin and Terebellum was impressed. He looked good, for a fourth-year Hufflepuff. Terebellum normally found that none of them grew into themselves until they were at least in their sixth year. At the same time as soon as she saw him she knew he wasn't going to be charming in the least, not by the way he scowled or the slump of his shoulders. What was she to deserve that look? Brussel sprouts?

"Listen, you're Terebellum Crouch, right? I'd rather not get insults flung at me today from a pureblood, so if we could just ignore each other for the week, that would be splendid,"

What? A Hufflepuff was standing up for themselves? When she hadn't said anything all that offensive in the first place? She didn't think calling him a Puff was _that_ bad. However this did occasionally happen, when people would assume that she would start right on the derogatory terms as if that was some sort of obligation. She couldn't really blame him with how unrestrained many of the other Slytherin purebloods acted,and usually she would simply surround herself with other members of her house as to avoid running into any Mudbloods. Otherwise news would get around that she treated them just like everyone else and then everyone on her mum's side of the family would shun her immediately. Although she wasn't a complete bitch to them, for these reasons she wasn't known to be friendly towards Mudlboods either.

"I don't know what you've heard about me, Puff, especially with the way you said my name as if that would make me guilty of something, but as far as I know I haven't done anything to anyone that would make you, specifically, not want to speak to me. Now I would like this week to go just as smoothly, and even though old Slug Brains wants us to 'focus on school'' or whatever, I don't think he wants us acting particularly icy towards each other to do so,"

"Oh, right, sure. Ascella's your sister, isn't she? You must be so different from her, eh?" He asked sarcastically, with a mean bite.

"So what she's my sister, I think she's as much a prat as you probably do. We have a brother too and he's probably the smartest boy in Slytherin, doesn't mean that I'm any sort of outstanding student," Terebellum reasoned. "What's it to you, anyway? Did she hurt one of your little friends' muggle-born feelings?"

Wrong thing to say. He furrowed his brows in distaste and turned his gaze back to the front. Terebellum flicked her eyes towards the front too, just to see if Slughorn was done with his little experiment. No such luck, he was getting down to the last students and seemed to have a tough time deciding who would be sitting by Druella. Surprise surprise, only the rather outstanding students were up there as well. "Ugh, this is so irritating!" Terebellum moaned. "He was probably just looking for the opportunity this whole time to split me and Druella up and the one time I mess up he goes for the kill,"

"What're you talking about?" The Hufflepuff boy asked, gazing at Terebellum.

"This whole ridiculous new seating plan sort of happened because of me. You know how Druella, the blonde girl, had to go to the infirmary yesterday and I escorted her? Well I just got her to pretend so we could bunk class. Course he blames it on me entirely, I can just tell, 'cause she's his favourite in the class and me, barely passing, gets in her way I suppose. Not my fault she goes along with me,"

"Isn't she also an uppity pureblood?"

"I'm not 'uppity," Terebellum pouted.

"She's in the Slug Club?"

Terebellum nods.

"But you're not?"

"No, and neither is Ascella if that warms your Puffle heart. I'm guessing you're not in it either since you didn't know,"

He shakes his head. "No, Potions is horrendous. My name's Roddrick, by the way,"

"I like Puffle better,"

He frowns, which she smiles just a bit at. Good, he's easy to tease. "I'd rather not go by that,"

"Fine, if you insist. Has anyone ever told you that you are the most grumpy Huffle ever?"

"'Huffle' is just as bad,"

Before Terebellum could make any retort there was a very audible noise, someone clearing their throat, that drew in everyone's attentions. Professor Slughorn had finished placing everyone in their new, temporary seats and was now ready to properly continue the lesson. Thankfully today he did not make them go back to the potions they had been working on for the past couple days, allowing for a bit of a break so they could all get appropriately comfortable in their somewhat new surroundings.

Unfortunately the Hufflepuff didn't speak to her at all again throughout the entire class.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**Another multi-fic HP story! First off I have to say that Terebellum and Ascella Crouch AREN'T OC's. Sort of. You see Charis Black and Caspar Crouch had three kids and it's suspected that Barty Sr. is their son, while the two daughters remain unidentifiable except that they probs died before '95. For anyone who has read/is reading My Brother's Keeper, this is Noah and Libby's grandmother! The year is 1955 (I used the Black Family Tree as an approximate reference to when they would have gone to school with certain people, some of you might notice Cygnus and Druella are Draco's grandparents) so I just gave them personalities, names and appearances. Do you like them? Do you not?**

**Is the new seating arrangement corny? Trick question, it is. This is a lighthearted fic, more so than My Brother's Keeper, and therefore with a bit more cliches XD The real question is whether or not I gave it a bit of a twist. Anywho, please do review if you liked it, and if you didn't than why not, I'd really appreciate it!**


	2. Chapter 2

As Terebellum made her way up to the Great Hall, she was well aware that during breakfast a Howler would arrive via owl sent just for her. She had received them a few times in the past, penned always by her mother, and by now had grown a sense of when they would arrive and knew what she would do when she got one. The confidence she had upon entering the Entrance Hall was nearly tangible, yet there was still plenty of annoyance that she felt for what had to be done.

If only Ascella would mind her own damn business every once in awhile.

There wasn't much she could do about her sister, at least at the moment, so Terebellum entered the Great Hall with Druella in tow. She hadn't told the other girl about her suspicions of a letter arriving that day but didn't feel that it was necessary, after all if she could time everything just right no one would hear what the Howler had to say anyway. Strutting across the room to her table, Terebellum marked an area beside a couple of her first cousins, Heze and Alphecca Longbottom, hoping that if any part of a possible Howler were to be witnessed it could potentially only be heard around family members. Well, and Druella, but chances were she would marry one of Terebellum's cousins anyway so that was hardly a detail to worry about.

There was no greeting between cousins as Terebellum sat next to them, an unspoken agreement that the Black-Longbottom's stuck to their friends while the Black-Crouch's stayed in their own circles. The only exception happened to be Ascella, who made it her duty to correspond with any acceptable family relations they had at school. Bartemius was too caught up in his studies for much of a social life and Terebellum found that although Druella was just as bad as many of the others in the Sacred Twenty-Eight, she at least didn't have the capability nor the drive to share more personal information with her mother.

Plopping down on the bench Terebellum helped herself to some eggs, pancakes and bacon, picking up a bagel on the way as it looked too delicious to pass up. Beside her Druella took a banana and a couple of fresh fruits, the only considerably unhealthy food choice on her plate being one piece of buttered toast. It was only natural that Terebellum ate more, unlike Druella she felt as if good tasting foods were luxuries and she deserved all the luxuries in the world. Luckily she wasn't normally reprimanded at home for her appetite, though Ascella could always find it in herself to give her sister dirty looks. For this, staying at Hogwarts had always been ever more appealing in that avoiding Ascella was somewhat easier.

While she ate Terbellum looked up periodically for any owls that might decide to swoop in, her plan already in order as her Herbology book sat on the surface of the table separating her breakfast from Druella's. Pretending to listen to Druella, Terebellum had been anxious for the arrival of Topaz, the family owl. Just at the corner of her eye she caught Topaz, a sooty owl with greyish black feathers and specks of white, gliding through the air towards the Slytherin table.

Quickly Terebellum pushed her plate to the side and opened her Herbology text. When the letter dropped onto the empty space she shakily opened it. The letter had immediately started hollering.

"TER-"

Terebellum stuffed the letter into the open Herbology pages and slammed the book shut, then shoved it under her cloak. This had muffled the letter's words greatly but the noise had still startled about a dozen of the students around her, including the Longbottom's and Druella, but Terebellum could not focus on that as she still needed to implement the next part of her plan. With speed and a strange amount of grace for the occasion Terbellum slipped out of her seat and dashed out of the Great Hall. Only the Slytherins that she sat around at the table noticed this display.

Once Terebellum made it to the Entrance Hall she pulled her Herbology book out and allowed for the rest of the message to be heard.

"-TIME. REPUTATION IS KEY, TEREBELLUM, AND SINCE YOU CHOOSE TO-"

Doing her best to ignore the yelling, Terebellum ghosted her finger along the written words, trying to read what the letter had been shouting while contained within her book.

_To Terebellum Crouch_

_Terebellum Crouch, why do you choose again and again to make a mockery out of your family name and status!? We are well aware that you had made a ridiculous and immature scheme to escape from your potions class, which neither your father or myself are proud of! You have proven time again that you are not academically inclined such as Bartemius and this is something we can accept and are most certainly not ashamed of. In fact, this trait of yours is the least of anyone's worries and could potentially even help you to become a better wife! But the meandering you do around the halls of Hogwarts, the incident that had happened towards the end of last year, the disrespect you show for your Professors is not the type of attitude that a pureblood witch should obtain! _

_Seeing as you particularly enjoy having an amorous behaviour, your father and I have decided that these mistakes you have made serve as an example as to why you should dedicate yourself to becoming committed rather than frittering about like some sort of trollop! This will be the last time. Reputation is key, Terebellum, and since you choose to have this flirtatious nature about you we have decided that our only choice is for you to have a match to dedicate yourself to, lest you find that no self-respecting pureblood wizard would want your hand in marriage and that you have spent too much time neglecting your studies that there will be no career for you after Hogwarts._

_We may have already picked one by the time this letter gets to you._

_Your Mother_

_Charis Crouch_

Alright, this was getting to a whole other level of insane. Terebellum wasn't able to grasp all of it before the parchment burst into little pieces right in her fingertips, becoming a pile of dust at the bottom of her feet, but from what she understood there was no need to know every detail of the stupid message. The gist had been that her mother was having enough of her badassery and went out of her way to find someone for Terebellum to get hitched to before anyone could be turned away by her romantic escapades or lack thereof.

Walking back into the Great Hall casually, Terebellum rejoined Druella and her cousins though the latter two showed no signs of having really noticed her disappearance despite having seen the whole ordeal. The two Slytherins across the table give her open-mouthed and curious looks but Terebellum easily signs them off, as they were most likely just a couple of second years. Maneuvering back into her spot Terebellum almost instantly had Druella coming into her personal space, leaning over just inches from her face.

"Was that a Howler, 'Bellum? What did it say?"

Terebellum pulled away a bit from Druella, not in the mood to act conspiratorial. "I just got scolded for what happened yesterday, Drew, Ascella doesn't know how to keep her big fat gob shut so now my mum's upset with me,"

"Do you think she'll yell at you during Christmas break?"

For a moment Terebellum genuinely considered how her winter vacation would pan out now that she was expected to have a quasi-fiance, but she shooed it out of her mind with a figurative broom, not at all wanting to picture what it would be like if she did end up following her mother's wishes. "Perhaps, if we don't have any guests over it's almost a guarantee. Oi, Heze-"

Terebellum nudged the boy sitting beside her. He turns to face her, with dark eyes much like her own, but his hair is a lighter, soil brown similar to Ascella's. "Yeah?" He answers, eyes glazed over and uninterested.

"You think Aunt Callidora will want to take you lot to come visit us during Christmas?"

"Nah, we're headed to dad's relatives this time, I believe,"

"Okay," She dismissed, and with that he once again faced his sister and their regular group.

"That's practically a definite yes that she'll yell at me. Maybe instead of having turkey for Christmas she'll slow roast me instead. Ascella'll probably fancy that,"

"That's completely insensible, you would probably taste awful," Druella joked, scrunching up her nose. "Besides, she adores you too much even with how barmy you are sometimes,"

"You should try telling her that. Actually, don't she may try to cook you up too. Getting my messed up family out of the way - no offence dear Longbottom's even though you probably aren't listening - how has your breakfast been so far?"

After having a bit of a chat with Druella, Terebellum excused herself to write a corresponding letter. Leaving the Great Hall, this time with no plans of returning until lunch, Terebellum knew that the person she would be writing to would most certainly not be her mother. Any attempt at getting her thoughts on paper would both upset her and in turn get her into deeper trouble with her mother. Rather, as she walked along the hallways passing a couple other students, Terebellum had a totally different person in mind. Once she recited the password and made her way into the Slytherin common room Terebellum plunked herself down at one of the vacant tables and placed her quill and a spare piece of parchment she had before her.

Bringing quill to paper, Terebellum began penning down her message.

_To Father_

_If you know anything about the letter that mother has sent me than you must be just as aware as I am that she has gone completely bonkers. I won't be taking her message seriously by the way, there is no need for me to as I am only fourteen years old and surely you remember what being fourteen is like. Well perhaps you don't, I can imagine that you were studious just as Bartemius and mother was probably just as uptight as Ascella - which is a very weird thought - anyway as I was saying I am just going to take the Howler as mum being too dramatic for anyone's taste._

_How have you been, by the way? Christmas break is coming up soon enough and I am not sure what to get you for the holidays. Bartemius seems to think I should get something from Hogsmeade for you, at an antique store, and although I think he might be right I know that's where he'll be getting a gift for you and it would feel tacky to do the same thing. Don't worry too much about whatever gift you get me - as long as it looks wonderful it will probably do. Scratch that, go all out if you'd like, but remember that if mother has any hand in it I'll still only thank you as she has been driving me up the wall lately._

_I hope you are not as raving mad as mother is about what had happened in potions class. I know that I don't really live up to your expectations but I highly doubt you would try to punish me so harshly. Though mother probably doesn't think of anything she does as a punishment. Hopefully you will be able to talk some sort of sense into her._

_Love,_

_Terebellum Crouch_

Folding the letter Terebellum stuck the parchment into her Herbology book, trusting that if it could keep a Howler in check it could certainly do the same for an innocent letter. Well, mostly innocent with some hints of passive-aggression. One of these days she truly would need to let her anger out on something, but for now Terebellum didn't really want to spoil anything.

It was a bit of a disappointment that Slughorn, upon beginning potions class, instructed that they would be continuing their girding potions. Taking her cauldron from the back cabinet Terebellum placed her work on the table top, and then went to grab from her storage some of the ingredients she would need for the potion. Beside her the Hufflepuff, Roddrick, also had his cauldron out yet when she peeked over at it his was a deep blue. This could either mean that he was one or several steps ahead of her, and on closer inspection she noticed that the only ingredients he had out were the flying seahorses. Only a few more steps until his was complete.

Terebellum might also have been that far along with her potion, if she hadn't messed up twice already and forced to start over each time.

"Yours is looking good, Huffle-boy,"

He had one of the flying seahorses pinched between his fingers and nearly dropped it when she suddenly started speaking.

"Uh, thanks...?" He glanced at hers for a moment. "Have you got a lot ahead of you?"

"One could say that. Surprised you decided to be halfway decent to me today,"

He looked a bit offended at this. "You're one to talk, you've just called me Huffle again after I already asked you not to,"

"Ah ah ah, Roddrick, I called you Huffle_-boy._ Not the same thing,"

Just then Slughorn came around and miraculously decided to stop by their table, giving Roddrick's progress a once over. "Not bad, my boy, certainly leaps ahead of the last attempt I would say!" Slughorn clapped the Hufflepuff on the shoulder while Terebellum stared openly. On one hand she was irritated that even a random Hufflepuff got more praise than her in this class, and on the other felt a bit better about herself now that it was revealed that Roddrick also had to restart on one occasion.

Then just as spontaneously Slughorn departed from them to finish up the rounds of inspection, though Terebellum hardly concerned herself with that. If one were to ask Terebellum, she would definitively proclaim that Slughorn could go on a trip to the moon and it wouldn't do much for anyone's performance in the class. Dropping some of the toasted dragonfly thoraxes from her container into the cauldron, Terebellum kept one eye on what the Hufflepuff was doing, mostly because she couldn't bring herself to focus on doing just one thing at a time. He'd already slipped one of the little seahorses into the cauldron and was now adding another one. Their potions book hadn't really clarified whether or not they should add all three in at the same time or one by one, or if there should be a bit of a wait between each one... really when potions skills required a certain amount of precision it was a wonder that anyone managed at all with such general instructions.

He must have done something wrong, as the liquid turned a nasty shade of purple, not the green that was supposed to come next. Trying to be subtle Terebellum took a quick glance at his face just to see the reaction. His mouth had turned into a thin line and his thick eyebrows were furrowed, not at all pleased with the outcome. Wordlessly, Roddrick picked up his cauldron and carried it away to the back to, presumably, dump it's contains.

Having distracted herself so much with the goings-on of the Hufflepuff, Terebellum hadn't noticed her own potion until she turned back to it and found that the contents of her cauldron had gone from a lovely shade of pink to a puckish orange instead of the red that it was meant to turn into. Sighing, Terebellum briskly picked up her own cauldron and transported it to the back, running into Roddrick who was currently cleaning up his cauldron for the next go at the girding potion.

"Fancy seeing you here," Terebellum greeted cheekily, dumping her potion-gone-wrong into a drain.

"What're you doing back here?" He'd asked, not looking over his shoulder at her, annoyance clear in his voice.

"For the same reason you are. Well, not exactly, I'm not really sure what you did wrong with your potion seeing as you followed the recipe as well as anyone could, which is why this class has a few flaws in my opinion. No, I-"

"Wait, you were paying attention to what I was doing?"

For just a second, Terebellum felt stuck. But she pulled herself back speedily, probably one of the only useful skills she'd gained growing up. "I admit I was, I always do that with whoever is sitting next to me. Helps me know what I'm supposed to do. Usually since I'm always beside Druella, for potions at least it normally works out,"

"Oh, excuse me for not doing my duty perfectly than. It must be my fault that you had to scrap your potion, right?"

"Did I say that? Did those words literally escape my mouth? No, they hadn't, and I wasn't really implying anything either." Terebellum defended, moving to the opposite side of him and grabbing a rag to manually clean her cauldron. Unfortunately Slughorn didn't like wand-using in his classroom so students were often forced to clean their equipment by their own hand.

"I wouldn't know what you are and aren't implying, Crouch, I have no idea what you're capable of. Which is why I'm not sure what to make of your whole 'nice' act,"

"If you're not so sure than maybe you shouldn't be so open about that, Roddrick, you Hufflepuffs don't even realize how much that honesty flags you as a target. Not that I would personally take advantage of that, I have much better things to do. But-... oh, you're gone." Terebellum noted, looking up to find the space where the Hufflepuff had been now vacant.

With her cauldron scrubbed down Terebellum made her way back to her table to start on the girding potion for a third time. She refused to try and start up any conversation with the Hufflepuff boy again, if he wanted to get over himself than she would make the effort, but only then. At least for the rest of the day's potion class.

"What is it with you and that Hufflepuff boy, 'Bellum?" Druella had inquired once potions was over, on their way back to the Slytherin common room.

"Hmm? What does it seem like to you, Drew? I have to sit next to him for the next couple days in potions class. I'd just rather my girding potion get done eventually, and if I can't have you around to give me tips than I have to get it from someone,"

"Oh... that makes sense I suppose. But you should know that Hufflepuff? He's a Mudblood, just so you know that you're conversing with filth,"

"Uh... good to know?" It was always strange for Terebellum to hear her classmates, never mind good friends, talk about muggle-borns in that way. Normally she associated the supremacist behaviour with that of her stuffy mother and her side of the family, but witnessing those in her own age group speak that way made Terebellum feel uncomfortable and awkward. Although she wasn't strongly against the blood caste system the whole ordeal was just too weird for her to think about, which was part of the reason she never bothered with muggle-borns to begin with. Avoiding the subject was made a lot easier that way.

That was easier done when she hadn't been shoved into a seating arrangement with one of them.

One interesting thing Druella had said was that it was Roddrick who was a Mudblood. For some reason she had got it into her head that it had been a younger friend of his, someone in the same year as Ascella, who had been teased for their status. Really she'd assumed that he just happened to be there and stood up for whoever it was with that infamous Hufflepuff loyalty, and the result had just sort of been Roddrick being dragged into the name-calling. Then again it wasn't too surprising that a Hufflepuff had let himself be bullied by a bunch of underclassmen despite the weird defensiveness that Roddrick had displayed the other day.

Perhaps Ascella had gone too far with him. Terebellum could picture that scenario, as her younger sister often went beyond what any sane person could tolerate.

"I'm just watching out for you, 'Bellum, wouldn't want to get mixed up into the wrong sort now would we?"

"Believe me, Drew, no matter what my marks may reflect about me I am the last person you would see getting personally involved with a Mudblood. As Slughorn said, this is all only temporary,"

It didn't seem wise to mention how said Mudblood barely wanted anything to do with her, that every time they spoke it was her who had to coax any sort of response out of him. There was no reason to draw Druella's attention to that, word spreads easily and in a very short amount of time she could be shafted by pureblood households for something as simple as initiating communication with a Mudlbood. The cautionary action, in retrospect, was incredibly silly but Terebellum knew that most of the things she had to deal with were silly anyway. Especially the laughable letter her mother had sent her. That one took the cake, no doubt.

Sprawled out on a green cushioned couch in the common room, Terebellum had one hand touching the hard, cold ground. Her head hung over the side and every once in awhile she had to pull back her long dark hair as it persisted on draping over and obscuring her vision. Druella sat to the other side of the couch, leaning against the arm rest with one leg crossed over the other. Around them were plenty of other Slytherin's doing schoolwork or chatting amongst each other. Through and through, it was just like any other afternoon in the Slytherin common room, just as dark and ominous as it always is with an odd mixture of camaraderie to go around.

"-all together, okay? When you only add one flying seahorse at a time, they dissolve too quickly and the potion has a funny reaction to it. Then you have to make sure you stir it, alright? Don't just let it heat by itself or else the ingredients won't have been mixed properly,"

"Uh-huh," Terebellum agreed, her voice muffled a bit as the side of her face was pressed against the cushion.

"You should do fine next class, hopefully everyone will finish soon so we can move on. Studying for Arithmancy became tiresome the minute I had to start doing so today,"

"Hello Terebellum, Druella," Someone had greeted though with her eyes on the floor Terebellum couldn't see who it was.

"Oh, hi Cygnus," Druella had returned while Terebellum flipped herself over to flip the newcomer. As Druella had indicated the person who came up to them had been none other than her own second-cousin, Cygnus Black. He stood there, tall and menacing, his dark eyes entirely on Terebellum.

"Hello, Cygnus. What brings a seventh year such as yourself to stop by for a chat with two fourth years?" Terebellum asked cheekily, relaxing herself into a new laying position on the couch.

"Actually I'd like to speak with you, Terebellum. Privately, that is," Now he looked meaningfully towards Druella, who quietly excused herself and scurried away.

Terebellum frowned as she watched her best friend leave. Turning back to Cygnus, who had in the meantime snaked around to join her on the couch, the frown was still present on her face. "Druella is the groveling sort, Cygnus, you should have just let her stay. Now she'll be all grumbley for the rest of the night,"

He shrugs, noncommittal. "She left through her own free will. Besides, I'm sure she wouldn't have wanted to stay in on our conversation either way,"

Terebellum groaned, suspecting on the reason he decided to confront her at all. "My mother didn't tell you to have a few words with me, did she? Listen Black, we both know that I am the only one with the information on what happened between you and that third-year Gryffindor last year, and since everyone already knows about me you've got no dirt. So, in short, there'd better not be any bad reports about me sent to your mummy," She warned.

There never any rest in making sure her good name stayed clean.

He smirked. "For the record, you may not be a Black in name but you are in blood. Though 'Crouch' is respectable all the same. And no, I'm not some little errand boy, I'm sure one of the Longbottom's are already assigned to that. Or more likely Ascella. But it is about family I'll give you that. I received a letter this morning, it was rather interesting,"

Terebellum raised a brow. They both received letters that morning. Already this was not sounding any bit favourable. "So?"

"You got one too, didn't you? I know you did, it was brought up in the letter. Yours was a Howler from your mum, about leaving potions to 'help' Druella right in the middle of class?" Terebellum nodded, and Cygnus continued. "Well mine addressed a few of the same things-"

In that second, Terebellum could feel her heart dropping down to her stomach.

"More specifically, mine had requested that I make you and I a match," He said so casually, so coolly, that one might think under a different context that the letter could have suggested that he invited Terebellum to sit with him during lunch simply because she didn't have any friends of her own.

Trying to play it off with the same amount of self-assurance but failing miserably, Terebellum sat up somewhat from her spot and tilted her head to the side, feigning curiosity. In truth the amount of curiosity she held at the moment could be measured to the same degree of how much she adored Professor Sughorn as a teacher. "Why do you sound so serious about this? I would think that you would find the whole situation to be hilarious at best and awkward at worst. Me and you? You're three years older than me, we-"

He interrupted. "Who cares? I'll be leaving Hogwarts next year-"

"And I'll _still_ be here-"

"Which means I need a fiancee, as of yesterday, so that my parents are off my back. During summer you can come and stay with us at our manor, and while you're here at Hogwarts... well, I'll be enjoying all of life's simple pleasures," He winked.

"Ew... I'd bet you'd shag everyone from here to London if your mother didn't have a leash on you. What on earth makes you think I'd want to marry you, especially after telling me that?"

He leans back, just as confident as ever. A thought snuck up on Terebellum, about how the other fourth year girls were probably watching them right now and she would be badgered by them all night about everything to do with Cygnus Black. That on top of how he had probably silenced Druella for the rest of the night and Cygnus had proved that he was making her evening worse than it already was without even having to bring up any letter. But he did, and that might have ruined the rest of her year.

"Because I'm the most eligible, formidable pureblood at Hogwarts. You may be a bit wild at the moment now Terebellum but you're a good, wholesome girl at heart. You despise who you're supposed to and follow in the correct footsteps just as I do. Together, we could satisfy every desire we could possibly have," As he was talking he inched closer to Terebellum, lifting a lock of her dark hair and smoothing it between his fingers.

He was wrong. Terebellum knew that he was as every word spilled out of his mouth. Yet she wouldn't try to correct him, could never try to correct him. For the moment he was what Charis Crouch wanted for her daughter. Well, one of her daughters.

That gave her an idea. "Couldn't you just go along with Ascella? I'm sure she would love to have you," Terebellum insisted, tilting her head so that Cygnus would lose his grasp on her hair. Thankfully it fell out of his grip giving Terebellum confidence as it swung back to her side.

Cygnus made a face to show his disapproval. "I'd never, Ascella is the type of girl who tries to take control of every situation handed to her. Not to mention she doesn't quite have the same noble features that you possess,"

So that was part of it. He wanted little clone Black babies for his clan to continue perfectly and cleanly. No muss or fuss, no chance that his children would gain any other looks than the aristocratic ones handed down to them. The ones that would mark them as undeniable members of the House of Black, if the name they would already be gaining weren't enough. Terebellum had to hold back a gagging sound, even _she_ wasn't so full of herself to put such efforts into making sure any of her potential offspring were exactly like her. Bloody hell, she never even gave it that much thought! She had her mother to do that for her, and the woman probably gained about fifty more grey hairs from doing so.

Terebellum managed to disguise her sound of disgust as a scoff instead, seeing that there was no need to offend one of the few chances she had at getting into the good graces of her mother once more. "Cygnus it is all nice and lovely that you have this stage of your life planned out but as far as 'wooing' me goes, I would have to give you a zero. Perhaps if you could manage to get me to _want_ to become your match, than I might consider. Until then, I'm afraid our mother's will only manage to see us as a couple in their daydreams,"

Sweeping herself up from the couch Terebellum dodged a few pieces of furniture and people as she quickly made her way to her dormitory, hoping that she didn't look as much like a wreck as she felt. Three out of three of the Slimy Snake girls followed behind her at a brisk pace and as she went on Terebellum felt a sadistic twist as she pictured their faces once they heard of her 'engagement'. If she even bothered to tell them. Now though, she was more focus on finding Druella.

They needed to have a nice long chat, and Terebellum was thinking that it should be after proper hours.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

** The next and LAST semester of my high school career starts tomorrow. And I have Bio and Math :( But enough about me, a lot went down in this chapter and yet again, the lighthearted train continues! I hope I gave Cygnus Black the right amount of cocky/entitlement/wealthy bastard vibe. Though honestly I kinda like him for some reason. I have a hard time NOT liking character's that I shouldn't :P **

**Thanks to NightmarePrince, Whitetiger91 and Summer Leigh Wind for reviewing last chapter :)**

**If you liked the story or have any critics I'd love to hear about it in a review! Thanks for reading.**


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